The San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival 2026

The San Francisco Underground Short Film Festival exists to celebrate local, independent filmmaking. We proudly champion the overlooked and underrated, the avant-garde and the alternative, the outrageous, the oddball, and the outlandish. We'll be presenting the silly, subversive, surreal, and strange from all Bay Area filmmakers! From bizarro B-films to midnight movie trash, expect the weirdest and wildest the Bay has to offer, with the night kicking off with our lighter fare and getting darker and more freaky as the evening goes on. Cinematic weirdos - you have found the festival for you!

Founded by Peaches Christ & Vinsantos in 2003 at the Bridge Theatre, partially as a showcase for their own short films that weren’t getting traction at “legitimate” festivals, the SFUSFF ran under their care for six years until 2008. After Vinsantos moved to New Orleans, Peaches and fellow film programmer Sam Sharkland wanted to see the fest continue and so revived it in 2011 at the Victoria Theatre where it ran until 2015. In 2025, the festival found a new home at the 4 Star Theater under the care of Piranha Psychotronica and Kafka X, the maniacal minds behind Media Meltdown Movie Madhouse.

* Festival Pass tickets can be selected under any time slot!*

PROGRAM 1 (2:15pm-4:15pm)

Live Entertainment TBA

• Attuned (dir. Ke’Mari Moore)
• bird’s nest (the mourning dove and the cardinal) (dir. Leo Pickard)
• A Cookie for Caspian (dir. Mick Glenn)
• DEAD MARCH TO PARADISE (dir. Evelyn Haixuan Cao)
• Ghosting (dir. Henry Voge)
• Márcia (dir. Claudia Andrea Escobar)
• Sad Snack - Dang It Bobby! (dir. Ilan Moskowitz)
• ShoeBox (dir. Troy Jake Tibayan)
• Tracing with the horn (dir. Millicent Villacastin)

PROGRAM 2 (5pm-6:45pm)

Live Entertainment TBA

• Be Here Now (dir. Chichi Castillo & Lauren R. Melton)
• Bob & Fred’s Double Date (dir. Riley Vitale)
• A Break in the Cross (dir. Chelsea Deras)
• Charlie Chompers: The Seal that Bites People (dir. McGillis)
• Ether Or (dir. Zander Constien)
• Majestic (dir. Yarrow Lazer-Smith)
• Ocean Watcher (dir. Leah Ruthven)
• The State of the Nation (dir. Micah Hart)

PROGRAM 3 (8pm-10pm)

Live Entertainment TBA

• ALIVE (dir. Beverly Bradley)
• Dead Jeni (dir. A.B. Disarufino)
• Disectoid (dir. Gratton Conwill, Matthew Fields, Sam Karpinski, Lucas Gustavo Rendon, Grant Tracy, Mahlon Tracy)
• Exit Through the Sky (dir. Abril Diaz)
• The Fire (dir. Paz Ferrand)
• Flip the Frog (dir. Granger Loosley)
• Hollohed (dir. Eeshan Kumar)
• Moon Fazed (dir. Nithin Kumar)
• P i z z a p a r t y (dir. Kyle C. Johnson)
• Sad Hour (dir. Sean Pettis)
• Suture (dir. Eva Mulvihill)

PROGRAM 4 (10:45pm-12:30am) - 18+ Only

Live Entertainment TBA

• Bone Apple Tooth (dir. Ella Riddle)
• Dig my Hole (dir. Síle P Heaney)
• Goonweed (dir. Ethan Roberts)
• FRAT PIE A PARABLE (dir. Justin Sacramone)
• Humans Are Shapes (dir. Sepi Mashiahof)
• Nocturnal Animals (dir. Eryn Wilson)
• Our Little Experiment (dir. Seth Puckett)
• Osculum Infame: The Shameful Kiss (dir. Matthew Ragsdale)
• OUTTA CUNTROLL (dir. Cake Bitch, Stevie Rose, & Jes Gallegos)
• Transmutation (dir. Mark P. Nobriga)
• Y2KAGE (dir. Jazzy Boho)

Lineup is subject to change.

Parking is limited so plan to arrive early, take a car, or ride public transit! There are plenty of excellent restaurants within a few blocks of the theater. Questions or accessibility needs? Email us at MediaMeltdownSF@gmail.com!

Event poster by @raebiezvaccine